Lance colored.
"I had to take the risk. As a matter of fact, things threatened to become embarrassing at first. However, I got the statement."
"What did you give for it?"
"A hundred dollars; what Miss Stanton was promised."
"Then she was hired to act a part? But what made her willing to betray her employers?"
"They deserved it," Lance answered in a curious tone. "It seems she got into difficulties with the police and had to leave the town; the clairvoyante business was only a blind, and somebody was robbed after gambling at her rooms. The men who made the plot took a shabby advantage of the situation."
"Do you know their names?"
"Yes," said Lance, hesitatingly. "If you don't mind, sir, I'd rather not mention them."
Mowbray looked at him keenly, and then made a sign of stern agreement.
"Perhaps that's best." He was silent for a few moments, grappling with this new pain that seared him to the heart. So Gerald had sunk to this! "Leave the paper here, and send Beatrice to me," he said slowly.